My father, Ralph Jester, met the Vanderlip family in the early 1920s while a student at Yale University, and while Narcissa Vanderlip was a student at Vassar College. Narcissa was the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip. During these years, Jester visited Mr. and Mrs. Vanderlip at their home, Beechwood, in Scarborough, New York. Jester recalls a visit to Beechwood where he first saw architectural models that the planner, Jacques Greber, had made for Mr. Vanderlip. These were of his proposed Villa Palos Verdes, to be built in Portuguese Bend, at the location where the current Catalina View Garden is. Another architectural model is for an artisans village, named Nari, to be developed on the slope above Pt. Vicente in Palos Verdes. The Villa Palos Verdes was never built due to the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent depression. And of course, neither was the artisans village. It is interesting to note that Mr. Vanderlip had marble stones and columns delivered to Portuguese Bend to be used to build the Villa Palos Verdes. Some of these were later used on other buildings and some can still be seen lying around unused. Also noteworthy is that the architectural models of the Villa Palos Verdes and the artisans village were donated in the 1970s to the Palos Verdes Historical Society by the Vanderlip family at the encouragement of Ralph Jester. The models were carefully crated in New York by Ken Dyda and shipped here where Dyda constructed plexiglass covered enclosures. The models are currently in storage until a suitable location can be found for their display.

In 1925, Ralph Jester began living in Paris to study art and architecture. While visiting Paris, the young Narcissa, with her husband, Julian Street, Jr., received a letter from her father, who wrote about visiting the ranch in Palos Verdes. This was the second time that Jester had heard of Palos Verdes. Around 1930, after 5 years of art studies in Paris, Jester returned to live in New York to continue his study of art at Columbia University, and then was on the first faculty teaching art at Bennington College, Vermont in 1932.

After a year teaching at Bennington College, Jester returned to New York to work in the theater. It was then that there was a turning point in his life. While attending college in the 1920s, Jester had met the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, through Wright's niece. In the early 1930s, because of Jester's architecture and design studies, he was offered an apprenticeship at Wright's design studio at Taliesen, Wisconsin. However, in 1933 Jester was also offered a job in Hollywood as a designer for Samuel Goldwyn at United Artists, and then for Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount as a designer on "Cleopatra" in 1934. For the next 25 years, Jester continued as a costume designer, art director and production assistant at Paramount with Cecil B. DeMille, most notably on "The Ten Commandments" in 1956, and "The Buccaneer" in 1958. Although nominated for academy awards in costume design for both of these films, the awards went to "The King and I" and "Gigi" respectively.

Since moving to California in the early 1930s, Jester had continued his friendship with the Vanderlip family, and visited them at their house in the Portuguese Bend area of Palos Verdes. The Vanderlips had built the "Old Ranch Cottage" in 1916, where they preferred to stay when they were in Palos Verdes, and then built the Villa Narcissa in 1924. Around 1938, Jester rented the caretaker's quarters, called the Cassetta, on the Vanderlip estate and drove to Hollywood for his work in films.

In 1938, because of Jester's association with Frank Lloyd Wright, Wright designed a house for him in Portuguese Bend, known as The Ralph Jester Project. All the rooms of the house were to be circular, and for various reasons, Jester never built it. However, the design was later built by an associate of Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona.

***The Ralph Jester Project - Frank Lloyd Wright 1938***

In early 1938, Mrs. Frank Vanderlip and Mrs. Elizabeth Schellenberg wanted to have a chapel for the worship of God and to share the insights of the 18th century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. They began planning for a seaside chapel in Palos Verdes on land donated by the Vanderlips above Abalone Cove. The architect, Sumner Spaulding, submitted a plan and budget. Because of Ralph Jester's architectural training, Mrs. Vanderlip also asked him to prepare a plan. Although none of Jester's plans exist, they were possibly to have been in the Mission Revival architectural style. The project was delayed until the end of World War II, when Mrs. Vanderlip renewed interest in it. It was at this time that Jester suggested that she contact the architect, Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, who had an established architectural practice in Los Angeles and who was a friend of his. Jester assured Mrs. Vanderlip that Mr. Wright would do a better job than he could. The beautiful and renowned Wayfarers Chapel that Lloyd Wright designed was completed in 1951.

***Lloyd Wright and Ralph Jester - 1976***

In 1948, my father and mother, Lois, bought a lot in Portuguese Bend and they commissioned Lloyd Wright to design the house which they built in 1949. It remained the family home for the next 72 years, except for the 6 years the family lived in Spain, and the house was occupied by tenants.

***The Jester House - Designed by Lloyd Wright***

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Lee Jester is a native of Palos Verdes who grew up in the Portuguese Bend area until the age of eight when the family moved to Spain for his father’s work in films. On returning to Palos Verdes after college, Lee began a career in the landscape nursery business and park administration. Further studies led to a later career in residential development. Now retired, he spends time pursuing his enjoyment of music, art and architecture.